An identity thief stole the wrong name when he unknowingly assumed the moniker of a convicted sex offender, authorities said.

James Perry of Clinton, Conn., allegedly swiped the name and ID of neighbor Robert Kowalski in order to obtain a driver’s license.

Things went well until Perry was busted for disorderly conduct under the name Kowalski and cops told him that he was a sex offender.

A stunned Perry insisted he wasn’t a pervert and a fingerprint check proved him right. But now he’s charged with identity theft and forgery.

*

Massachusetts high-schoolers who placed a dead skunk in the trunk of a fellow student’s car might now wish they hadn’t pulled the prank.

It turns out the skunk may be rabid and cops in Hopkinton are urging the mischievous youths to turn themselves in and get tested for the deadly virus.

*

Bill Murphy is singing the praises of duct tape – it saved him from bleeding to death after a grizzly bear savaged his shoulder and thigh in the wilds of Alaska.

Wrapping himself up, Murphy, 54, rode an all-terrain vehicle to his pickup truck, then drove himself to a hospital – an hourlong ride – to be stitched up.

“I can laugh about it now, but I wasn’t laughing then,” said Murphy of Wasilla, Alaska.

*

A special fat tax on people who fail to do enough exercise is being proposed in Australia.

Supporters say people who slim down should get cheaper health-care rates. But Prime Minister John Howard says he’ll fight the “ridiculous and unrealistic” suggestion because “that degree of Big Brotherism I could not support.”

*

Readin,’ writin’ and raunch.

That’s what some schools in Russia got when principals in Odessa rented out empty classrooms to private groups to raise extra cash – only to learn they were being used as brothels and strip bars.

Red-faced education officials have now told the renters that sexual activity is banned.